Chevy Corvette Review

Considered as one of the first true American sport cars, the Chevrolet Corvette is essentially the country’s most famous and longest-lived nameplates. From its rather lackluster beginnings in 1953, the Corvette consistently improved and cemented its place in the market through 6 generations of models.

The Chevy Corvette was most notable for being the car model to change American manufacturer’s principles regarding car designs. Whereas previous American cars only focused on performance exclusively, the Corvette started a trend where style and look became as important as the automobile’s engine power.

Named after the corvette, a small, maneuverable fighting frigate, the first Corvettes were exclusively hand-built in Flint, Michigan in Chevrolet’s Customer Delivery Center. They initially used fiberglass for the outer body due to the steel quotas left over from the war. It was quite revolutionary then, and turned many car enthusiasts’ heads. Underneath the fiberglass body were all standard Chevrolet components, such as the “Blue Flame” inline 6 cylinder truck engine, 2 speed Powerglide automatic transmission, and drum brakes from Chevrolet’s regular car line. But while the engine’s output is increased, the Corvette was still outperformed by its British and Italian competitors, and sales suffered so much that GM considered stopping production.

It was only in 1955 when Chevrolet unveiled its first V8 engine and a GM engineer named Zora Arkus-Duntov(now referred to as the Father of Corvette) added a three-speed manual transmission, which is probably the single most important modification in the car’s history and helped improve the performance so much that Corvette sales were turned around completely in GM’s favor.

GM’s intense rivalry with Ford also helped the Corvette, with Ford’s release of the 2 seater Thunderbird prompting Chevrolet not to back down from the challenge, which led to them backing up the Corvette with even more gusto, lasting through six generations commonly dubbed as C1 to C6.

The sixth generation of Corvettes(referred to as C6), is by far considered the best make yet. Like most Corvettes, the model comes in coupe and convertible flavors. Performance has been exceptional, with acceleration that allows you to reach 0 to 60 in less than 5 seconds. And we’re only talking about the standard model, with a Z06 make that can reach the 60s in 3 to 4 seconds.

The standard C6 Corvette comes with a 6.2 liter, 430 horsepower V8 engine perfectly complemented by either a 6 speed manual transmission or the optional 6 speed automatic. (The previous models only had a 6.0 liter engine with 400 horsepower.), the slightly more expensive Z06 comes with 505 horsepower, 7.0 liter V8 beast matched to a six speed manual transmission.

From its humble and arguably embarrassing beginnings in 1953, the Corvette has blossomed into one of the most popular car models offering strong performance, sharp handling, comfortable ride, affordability and fuel efficiency matched with an eye-catching sophisticated design. To this day, the Corvette still holds no its own against its foreign and younger competitors without radically altering or sacrificing the original design and principle.